


The Broken and the Damned

by 5SecsLeft



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety Disorder, Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Child Abuse, Dysfunctional Family, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Gen, Good Parent Grace Hargreeves, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, M/M, No Incest, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, jk he's fine, no beta we die like ben, not in my headcannon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-06-25 03:05:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19737061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5SecsLeft/pseuds/5SecsLeft
Summary: Number One was super strong, number Two could curve anything he threw, number Three could get anything she wanted with just a few short words, number Four could see ghosts, number Five could jump through space (and maybe time), number Six had horrifying tentacle monsters inside his stomach, and number Seven had little white pills.ORBefore his second special training session number Four notices that number Seven is about to take her anxiety pills. He intervenes and everything changes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Aight y'all, so heres my stab at this fandom. It's been a while since I've written anything I wasn't required to by work or school, but I really loved the characters in this show and I'm lowkey in love with Ellen Page so................ Here we are. Let me know what you think, I'll have more up soon (relatively speaking)

The Umbrella Academy was a very strange place. Technically they were a family and not an actual academy. Legally there was a father and a mother, seven adopted children, and a butler. The children were rather different from other children as they were technically bought from their birth mothers, they were given numbers instead of names, and most of them had super powers.

The butler was an incredibly intelligent, genetically modified chimpanzee named Pogo. The mother was a robot that was created specifically to care for the children. The children were ranked and numbered according to individual usefulness according to some metric that only their father understood. The father was the eccentric billionaire who controlled the entire family.

Number One was super strong, number Two could curve anything he threw, number Three could get anything she wanted with just a few short words, number Four could see ghosts, number Five could jump through space (and maybe time), number Six had horrifying tentacle monsters inside his stomach, and number Seven had little white pills.

Monday through Friday the children would have physical conditioning, group training, and general studies. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they would have weapons training in addition to their physical conditioning. Saturday they had strategy sessions and individual training, and on Sunday they would be tested on what they had learned during the previous week to see how they were progressing and where they needed improvement.

Whenever one of them was injured during training, mom would step in and fix them up, and then make them cookies. If one of them was struggling with some lesson, Pogo would take the time to make sure they understood what was being taught. If one of them was struggling with their training, then their father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, would yell and berate them until they did better. That’s how the Umbrella Academy worked.

These were the truths of life as number Four knew them. He also knew that his father was a right bastard. When he was twelve, he received his first “special” training. He was taken to the Mausoleum and locked in from sunset until sunrise. He was trapped in a crypt and surrounded by angry, vengeful ghosts who tormented him for hours. It had been six days, 7 hours, and 32 minutes since he had been let out. That meant he had about 16 hours left to figure out what he was going to do.

He thought about asking Five to help him break out in the middle of it and putting him back in just before the old man would come for him in the morning, but he dismissed that thought quickly. Where would he hide? He couldn’t go back to the house, One would rat him out immediately, and he couldn’t stay outside all night, it wasn’t yet winter, but it was getting cold out. He considered stealing some of his father’s liquor and getting blackout drunk, but since today was Saturday, they were all doing strategy training in the library together and Pogo was keeping a close eye on them ever since Two stabbed One on Wednesday.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his face. His assigned reading for the day was Sun Tzu’s _The Art of War_ and he hated it. It was so boring and hard to read. He would be quizzed on it tomorrow, and he knew he had to retain enough information from it or he would be stuck reading it again next week. He sighed and stood up to stretch his back. Pogo glanced up at him, but quickly went back to giving advice on the chess game between Two and Three, both of whom were just terrible at chess (not that he was much better, but he could last fifteen whole turns against Five and Five was the absolute best at Chess).

As he stretched he took a look around the library, glancing at his siblings. Six was reading a book at the same table as him, Five was working on calculations, Two and Three were Trying™, and Seven was sitting on the couch… about to take her anxiety pills. He observed his sister take a little orange bottle out of her pocket, carefully open it up, and gingerly took two pills out of it.

Something clicked when he saw those pills and he was moving before he even realized it. He quickly snatched up the book he was struggling through, and he made his way over to the couch. He plopped down next to Seven, and sighed deeply when Pogo looked over. He held the book up and whispered to his sister.

“Wait.”

He needn’t have said anything, his sister was gaping at him, two little pills waiting in her hand. He supposed it was only natural, they interacted very little outside of general conditioning, group study, and strategy games. Since she was normal, Father always left her out of training, though she did take notes and time them. He made a big show of going to the next page in his book and slumping down on the couch and muttered to her, “Pretend to take those and pick up your book again. Act natural”

She blinked at him and did what he asked. She put her hand up to her mouth and made a big show of swallowing her pills without water, something she had been encouraged to do recently by their mother. Then she made that scrunched up face she always made after taking her pills, and picked up her book, some complicated looking text on musical theory, flipped through to her place, and started to read.. She adjusted herself on the couch, his slouching having moved the back cushion out of alignment. “Why did you stop me from taking my pills, Four?” She murmured under her breath.

“Why do you have to take pills three times a day?” He scratched his head glared at his book. Number Three always talked about being an actress, but privately Four always thought he was better.

She frowned but kept reading. “It’s for my anxiety. They keep me calm.”

“Why do you have anxiety?”

She snorted at that, and quickly took out her handkerchief, pretending to wipe her nose.

He rolled his eyes at her reaction. “No, seriously, you don’t have powers, so you don’t have to fight us, and dad doesn’t make you do any special training.” He shrugged. “All things considered your life is pretty relaxed compared to the rest of us.”

She shot him a glare out of the corner of her eye and went back to her book. “Oh gee, maybe being told I’m worthless and will never amount to anything every single day of my life is the problem. Or maybe having to measure the exact blood loss my siblings sustain when our father makes them beat each other half to death have something to do with it,” she huffed out.

That gave him pause. He usually got the disappointment speech, but at least he was never called worthless. Huh, maybe her life wasn’t as easy as it looked on the outside. He chewed his lip for a bit. “I’m sorry, I guess dad’s an asshole all around. At least you don’t have special training like the rest of us. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” He surreptitiously glanced up and made sure Pogo was still occupied with the chess match.

She hummed quietly in response. “What does Dad do to you during your special training anyways? He doesn’t let me help with that.”

“He, uh,” he swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry, “he locks me in the mausoleum. The one at the edge of the property. He- he leaves me there at night, all alone.”  
She was staring at him now, a horrified look crossing her face. Her hands were shaking a little. He nudges her with his elbow and hissed at her. “Act. Normal. This won't work if someone notices.”

She cleared her throat, her mouth set in a grim line. “God, Four, that’s…. That’s awful. I’m so sorry, but… what can I do? I’m just ordinary number Seven. I don’t have any powers, I can’t help you.” Her hands were still shaking a little.

He lifted his book and let the corner of his mouth curl up in a grin. “No, you’re number Seven who has anxiety and gets anxiety pills. Did you know that no matter what the rest of say or do, he won’t give us anything? Sure, he lets mom give us pain meds when we’re hurt in training, but he doesn’t let us have anything for our nightmares. No matter how much I beg him for something to make the ghosts stop screaming, he refuses.”

She stilled at that. She knew that Four and Six often struggled with their powers, with the tireless dead and the monsters from elsewhere constantly hounding them, but... She thought that they just didn’t need anything like her medication. That they were strong enough that they didn’t need the crutch of little white pills to keep from collapsing throughout the day. That they didn’t struggle with the walls closing in on them and the air not having enough oxygen to breath. She had never considered that the others weren’t allowed anything like her pills.

“So you see Seven, I was wondering if I could maybe have some of your special pills?” The words rushed out of him.

She still hadn’t moved, staring blankly at her book and not reading what was in front of her. “You have special training tonight.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes.”

“You want my pills because you think it will help you.”

He chuckled darkly at that. “Well, it certainly can’t hurt. I’m already going to be locked in a crypt full of angry ghosts, if it turns out your medication doesn’t help then, well, I tried.”

She pursed her lips and flipped the page. “You don’t know that it can’t hurt. Maybe dad doesn’t let the rest of you guys have anxiety meds because it will react badly with your powers. Maybe there will be a bad reaction.”

“Listen, I’m already going to have a real bad trip tonight, I doubt your pills will make it much worse. And hey,” he shrugged, “do they give you bad reactions? What do they feel like anyways?”

“Sometimes I get really nauseous when I take them, but usually my mouth just gets dry and I feel numb. And maybe I don’t have negative reactions because I don’t have powers.”

“Hm, besides the powers we’re pretty similar, you and I. Your mother was Russian and mine was German. We’re both O negative blood types, and, oh yeah, that creepy one day pregnancy thing. Chemically speaking there’s no difference in our genetic composition to explain why the rest of us have powers and you don’t,” he murmured. He always was better at chemistry than she was. “So, nausea and dry mouth, easy. What do you mean by numb and how long does it last?”  
“Um, well,” she stopped to think about it. Everything Four was saying was making sense, which was odd because Four usually didn’t bother trying to make sense, he preferred shock value. “Everything goes dull. Like, colors seem less bright, noises seem quieter, things seem less important. I’m usually not hungry for a while after I take the pills, and I feel tired easily. Usually lasts for around six hours, but its strongest right after I take the pills.”

He smiled as he flipped his page, he hadn’t been reading for minutes now and he would do terribly on his quiz tomorrow, but that’s okay. He’d have to struggle through _The Art of War_ next week too, but that was a small price to pay if this worked out. “Overall those symptoms seem manageable, and the numbness you describe sounds like exactly what I want.” Making sure everyone was still occupied, Four turned his head and smiled at her. “So, sister dearest, what do you say?”

Seven gave a quiet hm and marked her place in her book. She made sure the bookmark was flush with the spine and it just barely peaked out from the top of the pages, like she always did. Then she stood up and made her way to Pogo. Dimly he heard her asking if she was allowed to get a drink of water, she had a bad taste in her mouth from her pills. He vaguely heard Pogo’s assent, but he wasn’t really paying attention. He was staring at the two little white tablets sitting next to the book his sister had left behind.


	2. Chapter 2

Number Five was furiously scribbling away on his most recent time travel theory. He knew if he could just figure out the right equation he could travel through time as easily as he could currently travel through space. He just needed to find the right combination of integrals and matrices to piece it all together. He had the beginning pretty firmly, and he had a rough idea of the middle, but he was stuck grasping at straws for the end. This part had caused him so much grief a small part of him was afraid that he would never figure it out, but number Five was stubborn if nothing else. 

Setting aside his calculations for a second he closed the reference book he was using and pulled a different one closer to him. A quick glance around the room showed him that Two and Three’s chess match hadn’t progressed much, Pogo’s mentoring not appearing to have affected them in the least. Six was still reading through Machivelli’s  _ The Prince _ , though he appeared to be almost done with it, and Four was… sitting next to Seven on the couch. Huh. 

Normally his siblings avoided number Seven. Since she was powerless and their father was always pitting them against each other in competition, she was seen as harmless. It was part of the reason he enjoyed spending time with her, he didn’t need to worry about her using his insecurities against him, which let him use her as a sounding board. She had started playing the violin last month, and though she was very obviously still a beginner, he enjoyed listening to her. Five would often sit with her when she was practicing and work on equations and theories. He thought it was beautiful how she could create something, even something as simple as Twinkle Twinkle, when the rest of them could only destroy. 

As far as he knew he was the only one who sought out Seven’s company. Four and Six enjoyed spending time together since neither of them enjoyed their powers. Still though, Four always was fidgety, so perhaps he had simply gotten tired of sitting at the table. Even then it was odd he had chosen to sit next to Seven. There were two armchairs available as well as the window bench, which meant he had chosen to sit on the couch to sit next to Seven. Picking up his pencil he started idly writing down trigonometric integrals and focused on observing Four and Seven. 

Based on body language Seven was listening to something Four was telling her. Her head was slightly tilted towards him and his movements looked too forced to be natural. Whatever he was discussing with her was something he wanted to keep quiet. He continued his spying as Seven got up and asked Pogo for a drink, but he kept his focus on number Four who sat staring at something on the couch where Seven had been sitting. 

Five watched his brother quickly slip something into his pocket and go back to his book. After a few minutes Seven came back in, picked up her book from the couch, and walk over to the window bench. Interesting… it seemed that whatever was going on Seven was in on it. He’d have to keep a close eye on this, he didn’t want Four getting their sister in trouble because he had come up with some hair-brained scheme.    
  
In the meantime he started working on his calculations again. He would have to wait to talk to Seven until sometime later. He had private training this evening before dinner, which meant he would be instructed to bathe before he could eat. At that time of day Seven had taken to practicing the Violin, so he should be able to find a few moments alone with her. 

As he had predicted, number Five was told to "clean himself up" before he would be allowed to have dinner. Not that he'd want dinner, his private training always ended with him vomiting from overexertion. The entire thing would leave his stomach cramping for hours after, but he would usually force himself to eat something. After all, you never knew when Sir Reginald would restrict their access to food in order to test their survival instincts or some shit. 

Tonight though, he would not be forcing himself to eat. He would instead use his allotted time to speak to his sister, and then when the rest of the family was at dinner, he would bathe. Then, at night he would pop down to the kitchen and make himself a sandwich.

Slowly walking up the stairs, Five made sure to drag his feet a little, that way if father decided to check on him after he didn't show up to dinner, it would appear that he was truly exhausted. As he got closer to the top of the ridiculous grand staircase, he could hear the faint notes of his sister practicing the violin. Once he made it to the second floor landing he paused, just listening for a moment. She appeared to be practicing scales, slowly going up and down the notes before speeding up. Now and again a note would sound off and she would slow down until nothing sounded out of place, before speeding up again. He didn't know much about music, but he understood that scales were supposed to help with fingering and timing and some other stuff that his sister insisted was important for her to learn. He made his way to his room and picked up his nightclothes. 

Clothes in hand he made his way to Seven's room. The door was open just a crack so he knocked on the frame and pushed it open. His sister turned to the door and some as she saw him. Her shoulders relaxed a touch and she brought her violin down. 

"Hey there, sounds good." He nodded at the instrument in her hands.

She ducked her head and let her bangs hide her face, a move she often used when she was embarrassed. "Oh, ah, thanks, but I know it's still really rough."

He frowned, thinking back to when she first started practicing. Now that had been rough, with harsh screeches and jarring twangs all over the place, nothing like the smooth notes today. "Well, I mean you had a couple bits, um, off, but for the most part it was, uh, good?"

She chuckled humorlessly at his halting praise. "Thanks, but those 'off bits' were two semitones I skipped and I clearly lost tempo just now. I was at least a half beat early on that last scale." She sighed and began carefully packing up her violin. Idly he wondered what she had said to convince their father to let her practice using it. The instrument was old, mid 1800s if not older.

"If you say so, I couldn't hear anything wrong with it. Still, you are improving at least." 

She flashed him a shy smile and closed the case. "Thanks. So what's up? Normally you head straight to the bath after you finish private training."

So she had noticed that habit of his. Interesting. He shrugged, offering up an air of nonchalance. "Oh not much, just wanted to stop and see how you were doing. I noticed Four sitting next to you in the library earlier and I wanted to make sure he wasn't bothering you. You know how fidgety he gets." 

Seven froze when he mentioned the library. "Oh, um, no he wasn't bothering me. I think he just needed to get up from the table. He kept rubbing his neck so he was probably just tired." 

"Uh huh. Listen, Seven, you know you can tell me anything right?" He made sure to catch her eye before he continued. "And if you need anything just let me know, okay?"

They stood there in silence for a long moment before Seven nodded and looked up at him. "I gave Four the afternoon dose of my meds."

"You did what?" The soft voice of number Six rang out from behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duh-duh-duh! A new chapter is posted and I am returned!!! Sorry its been so long, I work full time as a Junior Web Developer and I'm in school full time, so I have very little spare time -.-;; This chapter was also a pain to write, I scrapped it three times before I settled on using Five's perspective. I hope you guys like it! More will be coming soon, but my schedule isn't going to be lightening up anytime soon.


End file.
